


Intelligence

by Darkrealmist



Series: Scroll of Origins [5]
Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Adventure, Card Games, Character Study, Dreams vs. Reality, Fantasy, Gen, Gods, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kamigawa (Magic: The Gathering), Magic, Meditation, Nature, Origin Story, Philosophy, Revelations, School, Spirits, Spiritual, Surreal, Symbolism, Teacher-Student Relationship, War, Water, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Wordcount: 500-1.000, Wordcount: Under 10.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25795786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkrealmist/pseuds/Darkrealmist
Summary: The tale of Tomoya, the inquisitive apprentice unravelling Kamigawa’s most intricate questions.
Series: Scroll of Origins [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805515





	Intelligence

Intelligence

Author’s Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of _Magic: The Gathering_.

Card Reference: <http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78686>

Summary:

The tale of Tomoya, the inquisitive apprentice unravelling Kamigawa’s most intricate questions.

* * *

The history of Kamigawa runs rampant with the stories of great heroes and others of legendary status. Lands once trembled and worshipped the all-powerful daimyo, Konda. Jushi students mastered mystical arts at the Minamo School under the guidance of Sensei Hisoka and Lady Azami. Trees and fields of flowers grew wherever the monk, Azusa, passed. The rats bowed down to their lord, Marrow-Gnawer, and Akki poets recited praise of Zo-Zu the Punisher.

What of the lesser warriors? The conquerors who were not born conquerors? The travelers who had not traveled far enough?

So begins the tale of Tomoya the Revealer.

…

Scrolls were adequate, but nothing beat the tactile satisfaction of holding a book. They felt sturdy and absolute, without the paper rolling back, and appealed to the scholar’s forward impulse.

For years, Tomoya reserved time after his rigorous studies at the academy each day to meditate by the falls. Although almost nary a touch of land on Kamigawa escaped the ravages of religious collapse, this spot was a rare haven from the tide of war.

It was also here that one of the kami who supported neither side chose to repose.

Tomoya deliberated Chisei, his ongoing conundrum.

It is written Chisei rewards the finding of the patterns within thoughts – the unravelling of the intricate tapestries spun by Kira, the Great Glass-Spinner. And there were arguably no thoughts more unreadable than Chisei’s.

The spirit became fascinated by Tomoya’s self-discipline, curious whether his reservoir of knowledge could solve the mazelike puzzle.

If Tomoya unlocked the mysteries of the mind represented in Chisei’s strange, swirling body, a deeper significance would surely be revealed to him.

The apprentice followed a direct line of inquiry. He observed how his interpretations of the enigma reflected upon Chisei. For in all the hours they sat together, the Heart of Oceans never once spoke a word.

But the problem yielded no answer. The question was as water: flowing, shifting.

Chisei was a living cipher. His form reconstituted in bizarre shapes to prove a point yet uncovered.

Pitchers drained into a floating pool and a tube that didn’t go anywhere.

A skull, a swan, a fish, a sword, a lantern, a human baby, and merely the crest of a wave bubbled off the liquid suspension. They dripped down on knees fused in worshipping pose, gold pieces tenanting the torso’s absence.

Parts of the panorama bent inward, as though cut out of the cliff and sky and made part of Chisei.

Dipping into the prophesying magic his instructors saw promise in, Tomoya was freed from the real. Ideas unbound. Lifted by the clouds and hearing murmurs from beyond. An overwhelming intellect overwhelming his overwhelming intellect.

Amid the sensory overload, he found his center. His evermind opened.

He wouldn’t get through this try. But the teacher knew his pupil’s persistence would convey him to his goal.

There were a great many truths to reveal.


End file.
